Triads
Triad construction
Triad construction
In this lesson we are going to learn about triads and how they are formed using the major scale. This will help you in understanding how chords are formed.
1
Contents of this lesson
Triad formation
Commonly used triads
Triad from major scale
Exercises
References
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Triad formation
We form triads by stacking 3rd’s above one another from the major scale. The word “tri” comes from 3 hence we have triad, three notes stacked in 3rds. Any three notes that you play can be called a tridas but there are different kinds of tridas for now we are going to be looking at tridas stacked in 3rds from the major scale. Also known as diatonic triads. A triad can be also interpreted as a three note chord. Below we have formed the C major triad.
Commonly used triads
Major Triad
In music theory we have mainly four types of triads. One which you have already encountered is the major triad. A c major triad is formed when you play a major third (M3) and minor third (m3) from the root C. A major triad is a very consonese sound in music and is a positive or happy sounding triad/ chord.
C - E - G = C major
M3 + m3 = Major triad
Minor Triad
The second triad that you will see is a minor triad. In this case the formula of the triad is m3 + M3 which is exactly the mirror opposite of the major triad. Now we are going to look at a c minor triad below and the notes of it. A minor triad is considered as a sad sounding triad in music.
C - Eb - G = C minor
m3 + M3 = Minor triad
Diminished triad
Now the third type of triad that you will encounter is a diminished triad and it has a very dissonance sound to it. It formed when we played a consecutive minor third form the root . It used to be known as the devil's chord a long time ago. We will have more information about this in the music history section of the module.
C - Eb - Gb = C diminished
m3 + m3 = Diminished
Augmented triad
The last triad is known as the augmented triad and is formed by play two consecutive major thirds one after another from the root.
C - E - G# = C augmented
M3 + M3 = Augmented triads
Below you can see all the four types of triads shown in the staff :-
Triads from the major scale
Now we are going to look at the triads that we get from the major scale and in what pattern they occur. This is also known as the harmony of the major scale or the family chords of the major scale. You will find that we have formed a triad from each of the degree of the major scale we are going to take a brief look at it and try to understand how it functions below :-
These are the triads from the c major scale and order of the triads are :
Maj - min - min - Maj - Maj - min - dim
This formula will also help you to find the family chords of any major scale.
Exercises
Now we will try to form triads of some major scales in the table given below : -
D major scale
1
D
D Major
2
E
E minor
3
F#
F# minor
4
G
G Major
5
A
A Major
6
B
B minor
7
C#
C# Diminished
There are no rows in this table
F major scale
1
F
F Major
2
G
G minor
3
A
A minor
4
Bb
Bb Major
5
C
C Major
6
D
D minor
7
E
E Diminished
There are no rows in this table
A major scale
1
A
A Major
2
B
B minor
3
C#
C# minor
4
D
D Major
5
E
E Major
6
F#
F# minor
7
G#
G# Diminished
There are no rows in this table
References
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